Tropical Cyclone Paddy

25 - 30 May 1981

Summary

Paddy was the last cyclone in the Western Region during the 1980-81 season. It developed very late in the season during late May in an area of active convergence about 1000 km northwest of Cocos Island. It was a moderately intense cyclone with estimated mean maximum winds of 130 km/h and an estimated minimum pressure of 973 hPa.

The highest measured mean wind associated with Paddy was 65 kmlh from a ship 400 km south of the cyclone at 0600 UTC 26 May.

Paddy decayed rapidly after 27 May as a strong upper trough and cold front moving through the central Indian Ocean captured the upper-level cloud of the cyclone and sheared it away from the low-level circulation. This upper cloud streamed rapidly to the southeast as the front intensified approaching Western Australia, and a major rain situation developed over the western half of the State during the early days of June.

Meanwhile the low-level remnants of Paddy drifted slowly east-southeast as a weak tropical depression. The disturbance lay just off the upper Western Australian coast on 6 June. A cold front moving towards the coast interacted with the disturbance at this time, causing rapid acceleration towards the coast. This brought strong squally winds to the Carnarvon area during 6 June.